


fate brought us together, that or mac and cheese

by celebreultimaverba



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Miraculous Ladybug Secret Santa, Season 2 Spoilers (kinda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 02:57:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13157793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celebreultimaverba/pseuds/celebreultimaverba
Summary: Nathanaël meets Marinette's roommate outside in the cold at 3 AM. It goes better than expected.





	fate brought us together, that or mac and cheese

**Author's Note:**

> My secret Santa gift for grafted on tumblr!!! I hope you enjoy it!

“Okay. Okay, I am not mad. I’m _not._ But who in the _hell_ makes microwave mac and cheese at _three in the morning?”_

The girl’s voice cut through the fog of sleepiness that was the mass of cold college students huddled together outside their dorm building, most still confusedly blinking at the piercingly loud beeps that was the fire alarm still going off. Nathanaël clutches his sketchbook tighter to himself, wishing that he had thought to take the rest of them, just in case this was a real fire. He’d just snatched up the one that he’d fallen asleep on his desk on. Sketchbook projects were a pain.

The action draws attention to him, by Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a sweet girl who seems to enjoy noticing him more often than not. She’s the type of friendly that Nath can’t quite understand, standing up for people and volunteering for positions like Class President because she’s good at talking to a bunch of people at once. She waves him over. Nath goes, because, it’s Marinette. He’s over his crush on her that he had at the beginning of the semester, but she makes such an effort to talk to everyone in the building that it’s almost impossible to not listen to her when she wants to talk.

She grins when he indulges her, gesturing to the blonde girl next to her. “Hey, Nath. You looked cold over there, and I think Chloé needs an audience— oh, would you _stop?_ It’s funny!”

The blonde girl—Chloé, then—had elbowed Marinette, scowling. Marinette giggles, shakes her head, and continues. “Sorry. Nath, meet Chloé. Chloé’s my roommate, I just, like, didn’t wanna leave you two standing out here awkwardly and alone while I went and talked to the firemen, when they come, so, like. Mingle, I guess?”

Chloé rolls her eyes, but flicks them over Nathanaël appraisingly. “Yeah, alright,” she says, and Marinette beams, giving them a salute before walking off to find the firemen.

“So,” Nathanaël starts, a bit haltingly. “What do you think started the fire?” May as well make conversation, while they’re both here.

Chloé shakes her head. “Probably someone who didn’t read the posted signs about putting water in their mac and cheese before microwaving it. It doesn’t really matter. Can I borrow your jacket? Some of us are cold out here.”

She’s in a tank top and shorts. Nath starts, immediately shedding his jacket because she must be _freezing,_ good lord. “Yeah, of course, no problem,” he says, handing it over.She wraps the jacket around herself, gratefully, and graces him with a smile. “Thanks, uh. Nath?”

“Nathanaël,” he clarifies.

“Nath. Okay. Thanks. If Mari hadn’t insisted on actually getting out of the room, I would probably still be in bed. The probable false alarm is _not_ good enough incentive for me to leave without her telling me to,” she says, and Nath risks a laugh.“I can understand that,” he replies, holding out his sketchbook for her to take a look at the cover. “The only reason I picked this up was because I was actually sleeping on it.”

“Oh, that’s smart. I didn’t even take my phone, which, dumbest decision ever.”

“Well, hopefully it’s not a real fire.”

There’s a quick and awkward pause.

Chloé looks like she thinks about it for a second or two before asking, “Did you think it was real? And, like, all you brought was your sketchbook?”

Nath laughs, a little sheepishly. “Well, and my jacket.” Though he already had that one on, granted. “So, like, my wallet too.”

Chloé looks down, sticks her hands in the pockets, and brings out said wallet.

“Please don’t steal my money,” he jokes.

She shoots him a smile. “I don’t need it, don’t worry. Most college students are broke anyway.”

Nath laughs. “I’m definitely no exception. College student _and_ an artist, I’m possibly the brokest someone can possibly be. Why do you ask, though? If it was real, what would you have grabbed?”

It’s an embarrassing question, and way too intimate to ask a girl that he pretty much just met—orientation nonwithstanding, because they really only all went over their names and then Nath found his own friends, mostly other artists—but, like. He’s gonna make the excuse that it is three AM and he went to sleep literally an hour ago, and he’s, he’s _trying._

She looks surprised, too. She answers anyway. “I guess— my phone. Definitely my own jacket—this one, I’m sorry, _so_ not my style—“ Nath laughs at that, shrugging, she’s right, after all, “Um, and, I guess. I guess I’d grab, like, a stuffed animal or something, if we’re talking, like, _entirely_ sentimental value shit.”

The answer unbalances him a bit—sure, it was an intimate question but when she’d answered with her phone, he’d kinda assumed that he wasn’t gonna be answering for real. He blinks for a second. “Yeah— Yeah, sentimental value is, like, totally what I meant. I mean, I would take my phone just because, y’know, it’s my phone. But I would rather have, like, all my sketchbooks over my phone, probably.”

Chloé thinks a second, shrugs. “Yeah, I’ve got everything on the cloud. So I can just replace a phone.”

Another pause.

“So—“

“Do you—“

Nath laughs awkwardly and gestures her to go.

“Do you sketch a lot, then? Or, like, do you do more, uh, digital stuff, I guess?”

“Both? Depends on what I’m doing.”

“What were you gonna ask about me?”

“Oh, just, so what’s your major? Very basic.”

“Marinette’s never talked about me? I’m a bit offended.”

“I’m sure she has and I just haven’t, like, connected it to you? Were— were you the roommate who threw all her clothes out the window?”

“To be entirely fair, I thought that she’d stolen _my_ clothes. So it was a fair trade.”

Nath isn’t sure whether he should laugh at that. “I mean, it sounds like it wasn’t, maybe?”

Chloé scowls. “It _was._ We’ve been—I guess we’ve been friends since before university. Went to the same lycée and stuff. Started, uh— well, really we were _forced_ to, uh, work together, and then we kinda became…” she wrinkles her nose. “Friends. I suppose. Roommates. We have the same major, so it just made sense.”

“So you’re in fashion designing too?”

Chloé nods. “But, yeah, it’s— That whole thing was me being petty, not me being mean.”

Nath shrugs. “Can’t say I don’t relate. I once stole all my roommate’s fruit snacks but, there wasn’t really a reason for that beyond hunger, I suppose.”

“Well, that’s a valid reason.”

“You know, he didn’t think so? I know, very weird,” Nathanaël replies, a slight chuckle in his tone. “But it’s good that you and Marinette get along. I can’t imagine if you didn’t get along with your own roommate.”

“Well, maybe it’s more like we got used to each other,” Chloé says, shrugging. “Kinda had to.”

Nath nods, wondering in the back of his mind why they might _have_ to get along, if they didn’t at first. He slightly dismisses the curiosity—he’ll ask Marinette later, maybe—and takes her word for it that working together must have actually done something for the two of them, if they really didn’t get along back in lycée. Nathanaël can barely imagine Mari not getting along with anybody. “So how’d she react to you doing that with your clothes?”

Chloé laughs. “Uh. Well. Not well? She— We do some, uh, physical training together, and she’s kind of my personal trainer? And she worked me _hard._ Like, running all around the city hard.”

Nath whistles lowly. “You’re able to keep up with Mari?” He’d… seen her in the gym. Not because he goes in, but he’d seen her, and _wow._

Chloé smirks, shrugging off Nath’s jacket halfway. “Of course. Here, feel. I mean, I’m no Ladybug, but I’m getting damn close.”

And, he does. Because, of _course_ he’s gonna get his hands on biceps that can apparently rival Ladybug’s.

And. Hot damn.

No, literally, like, _hot damn._

She wasn’t kidding, and Nathanaël couldn’t say that he wasn’t blushing. He really wasn’t expecting such a pretty girl to actually, like _have_ muscles, and the fact that she did was just, a very nice surprise. He snatches his hand away as soon as he finds that he’s enjoying himself, and doesn’t miss the smirk on Chloé’s face widening.

“I told you!” she chirps.

“You definitely did,” he agrees, then immediately wants to hit himself in the face with his sketchbook for that stupid reply. She just laughs, though.

“So, listen, what room number are you? You’re on my floor, right?”

“Yeah, I think so. 321?”

Chloé nods. “Noted. Now that I know your name, I can actually start saying hi to you. And, of course, give you your jacket back.”

“You’re not gonna throw it out the window?”

She laughs, then looks surprised at herself. “No, no. Well, depends. No. Probably not.”

Nath pauses, shrugs. “Good enough for me. You can keep it, I guess, for, at least until you’re back inside?”

Just then, the fire alarms turn off.

Chloé smirks. “I think I’ll keep it a little longer,” she informs him, wrapping it tight around herself as she brushes past him. “Need a reason to talk to you again, after all.”


End file.
